Using IP camera systems with an industrial camera management solution.
Most industries, be they corporate, commercial, industrial or military, are rapidly moving towards Ethernet – more commonly known as IP – solutions due to the benefits this technology has to offer. The introduction of industrial video and control (IV&C) to industry has realised benefits such as safety when integrated with existing scada/HMI systems.
The keys to a successful implementation are extensive LAN and WAN bandwidth, control of the camera and viewing feeds and integration with existing systems that ensures no interruption of critical processes. An H3iSquared gold mining client was able to see the need for such a system and has now integrated this into its existing underground network and scada system.
The mine is currently making use of analogue cameras underground, as it was not financially viable to replace the existing setup. In this application, a device that is able to convert the analogue feed to an IP protocol was used to create an environment where both analogue and IP Cameras could be combined in a flexible system that offers integration with scada/HMI and remote monitoring.
One of the requirements was to monitor and integrate cameras from the different levels underground. This was achieved by placing port encoders at the relevant levels to convert the existing analogue cameras to IP. Once encoded, these were plugged into the backbone of the network in a VLAN (virtual local area network) configuration to gain access to the control room on the surface.
Once the system was configured, over 64 cameras were able to be viewed from the control room without affecting automation traffic and with growth catered for on the camera network. The next task was to integrate the camera solution with the rest of the automation. The engineers on the mine configured and wired the PLC to the digital input of the camera encoder. Now, when the PLC starts a process such as a conveyer belt, the system automatically activates the relevant cameras with alerts on the monitoring screen, to ensure the environment is safe for the process to begin.
The relay server is the heart of the IV&C system and has the following set of tasks:
* Control the bandwidth consumption from the camera to the NVR (network video recorder).
* Record to the NVR.
* Playback feature through an Internet browser from any accessible PC or hand held device on the network.
* Security restriction based on access via configurable usernames and passwords.
* High security with integration into active directory environments.
* Up to four live simultaneous views.
The client now has a system where the analogue cameras are converted to IP and run on the existing automation network running underground with negligible bandwidth overhead. The benefit is safety – when a process is started, a live feed is displayed remotely in the control room for visual confirmation.
The project started out converting 16 analogue cameras to IP and integrating them into the system. As budgets have allowed, the system has grown to accommodate over 96 camera feeds. With the design and scope of the system, the client is able to expand the system even further, thanks to the bandwidth management of IV&C.
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